The Art of Scientific Presentation Samuel B. Silverstein Department - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

The Art of Scientific Presentation 1

The Art of Scientific Presentation

Samuel B. Silverstein Department of Physics Stockholm University

The Art of Scientific Presentation 2

Fallacy 1: Scientific presentations should primarily present information

Inform:

Describe your work. Show the results you obtained

Persuade:

Is it an interesting and worthwhile question? Was it a valid test? Are the results accurate? Significant?

The Art of Scientific Presentation 3

Fallacy 2: Talks are like papers, except you present them out loud

Proceedings My Research My Research

The Art of Scientific Presentation 4

Fact: presentations differ from papers in some very fundamental ways!

Audience has limited attention span Can’t re-read text

has one audience chance to hear

Presentation: Paper:

Reader sets own pace Can skip around in text Can look up references

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Presentations have some advantages

Use sights and sounds to bring work to life! Instant feedback Can adjust presentation ! ? ! ? A B C C D

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An effective presentation depends on three important aspects of style

Structure Visuals and Props Delivery

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The structure of a presentation is strongly influenced by your constraints

Audience (multiple?) Format (time limits, time of day, facilities) Formality (questions during

• r after talk?)

Politics (Hostile

• r friendly

audience?) Structure

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Presentations should have clear beginnings, middles, and endings

B e g i n n i n g E n d i n g

Middle

The Art of Scientific Presentation 9

Beginnings prepare the audience for the work you are presenting

Define work Define work

Work = A + B

Give background Give background Show importance Show importance Map presentation Map presentation A B C D

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The middle presents the work in a logical order

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In the middle, make smooth transitions between major points

Pre-combustion methods Combustion methods Combustion methods Post-combustion methods

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The ending summarizes main points, and places them in the big picture

point 1 point 2 point 3 point 4 point 5 point 6 point 7 point 8

point 1 point 7

Summary Big picture

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Visuals reflect the structure of the presentation

scope, importance, background, mapping

beginning

• verall

perspective, summary

ending

logical order, transitions

middle

1 visual = ~1 to 1.5 minutes

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Visuals serve the presentation in several ways

¥ Notes for audience during presentation ¥ Notes for audience after presentation ¥ Notes for speaker(s) before and during presentation

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Well-designed visuals help the audience remember more of your presentation

10 20 30 40 50 60

Recall (%) Hear & See See Hear

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You must make certain decisions when designing visuals

What format? What information? Excluded Included

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Headline/body format orients the audience

Body supports with words Body supports with images Headline Body

words words words

Use a headline that concisely states the idea of the visual

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Use strong headlines!

¥ Orient the audience ¥ Help define presentations structure ¥ Help keep speaker on track

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The body supports the headline with words and images

Supports with words Supports with images concise clear familiar

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Use large, legible type

Arial BOOK ANTIQUA

Clear typeface:

12 point

14 point

18 point

24 point

28 point

36 point

40 point

Large type (18-36 point)

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Avoid clutter

words words words words words words words words

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Select body material that effectively supports your headlines

Results

Six warmest years of the 20th century 1998 1997 1995 1990 1999 1991 The world is warming

Images

Mars has two moons

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Include visuals that show organization

Topic A Topic B

• 1. Topic A
• 2. Topic B

Topic A Topic B Introduction

Title B A

Conclusion Summary

• f A and B

Beginning Middle Ending

The Art of Scientific Presentation 24

Layout of Test beam System

TileCal Drawer TileCal Drawer

T T C v i T T C v i

Laser Crate Laser Crate

TTC Fibre R I O R I O

VME

S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

Beam Crate ROD Crate

SLink Fibre

S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

ROB Crate

Slink Fibres

Workstation

Note: 3in1 also uses CANbus

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Step 1: Configure 3in1 and digitizer systems via TTCvi

TileCal Drawer TileCal Drawer

T T C v i T T C v i

Laser Crate Laser Crate

Configuration commands R I O R I O

Beam Crate

VME

To 3in1: Enable CIS, select capacitor, charge setting, etc. To Digitizer: Read out Low and High gain, set number of readout samples, set pipleline length, etc. All systems configured by Beam Crate using TTC (+ CAN?)

The Art of Scientific Presentation 26

Step 2: Fire CIS pulse and read

• ut digitizer data

TileCal Drawer TileCal Drawer

T T C v i T T C v i

Laser Crate Laser Crate L1A fires CIS pulse and starts readout

R I O R I O

S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

Beam Crate ROD Crate

Digitizer data

VME

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Step 3: Transfer event data to the event builder (ROB crate)

T T C v i T T C v i

R I O R I O

S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

Beam Crate ROD Crate

S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

ROB Crate

Bunch crossing ID and configuration info Digitizer Output VME

The Art of Scientific Presentation 28 S L i n k S L i n k

R I O R I O

ROB Crate Workstation

Step 4: Transfer data to workstation for

• ffline analysis

The Art of Scientific Presentation 29

Dont include information the audience doesnt need or cant remember

Complex images

DEAR- ATOR HOT WELL

RGF A B Filler information Roentgen discovered x-rays in 1895. He found that a cathode-ray tube produced fluorescence in a distant plati- num-barium-cyanide screen. Complex math (x +2) ln x (x + 1) (x-1)

2 2 2

Long lists

• Corrosion
• Acid rain
• Toxic materials
• Pulsed combustion
• Energetic materials
• Pyrogenic materials
• Smog

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An effective delivery conveys your message to the audience

¥ Language

– Familiar – Precise – Concise – Tone

¥ Performance

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You have several choices for delivering your speech

Memorize the speech + allows eye contact

• difficult for long speeches
• room for precision errors
• no room for improvising

Read from a text + ensures precision

• doesn’t sound natural
• no room to improvise
• hinders eye contact

“Wing it” + sounds natural

• much room for error

Speak from visuals/notes + insures organization + allows eye contact + allows improvising

• some room for error

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Prepare strong wording to emphasize strong points or transitions

¥ Beginnings

— OK: My name is _____ and I will be talking about — Better: One question which has come up more than once during this conference is: Now that the top quark has been found, what kind of physics can we do with it?

¥ Middles

— That concludes what I have to say about cross sections. I will now discuss

¥ Endings

— To summarize, I would like to show you this table of ...

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An important part of delivery is your interaction with the audience

Stage Presence Movements Voice

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An effective presentation depends on three important aspects of style

Structure Visuals and Props Delivery